A Tinge of Fall

By Ann Driggers

As of this weekend the season has begun to change. For the first time I feel the finger tips of fall wrapped around the edges of the dog days of summer.

On a morning ride on the Snowmass Rim Trail the damp musty smell of dying grass and rain drenched sagebrush accompanied a little burst of yellow in the aspens and a tinge of gold across the mountain sides of oakbrush.

The afternoon did warm sufficiently we retreated to the river for a float. Still the warm days are now followed by cool evenings and crisp mornings.

Rabbit brush blooms in the meadows as a sunrise alpenglow strikes Mount Sopris.

No frost yet but cool enough for gloves until the sun rises. Low angle light hiking through the aspen glades:

Yarrow and fireweed are the only flowers we saw and the alpine tundra has taken on a brown tinge.

The air at 12,000 feet has a crispness that wasn't there three weeks ago.